The bus information system, on trial, claims to provide information about its routes and travel time to passengers. It is a good initiative and if the project is successful, it should be replicated at all other bus stops. This could encourage more people to avail public transport ​services and stop them from availing loans to buy cars.

Reliable and efficient public transport is something that we had been talking about for years without much success. Technology can aid in making public transport reliable. If the bus arrives on time and departs on time, more and more people will take to public transport. However, it is up to the man or woman behind the wheels even if we have digital screens showing the arrival time.

With technology, manpower too needs to be trained and made accountable. In developed countries, policy makers encourage and invest in public transport. Public transport operators apologise publicly even for a few seconds delay in arrival or departure. This builds trust in the commuters and operators.

Our roads are getting congested. As of October this year, there are 47,048 vehicles in Thimphu. This is one vehicle for every 2.1 person in Thimphu assuming the capital’s population is 100,000. Our roads can only accommodate a certain number of cars. The length of our roads and the parking spaces are not keeping ​pace with the number of vehicles.

Good public transport is the only realistic solution we see now. The lack of it is encouraging people to buy, and buy with loans. Looking at the capital city’s roads, there is something wrong. We used to boast ​about our capital city ​as the only city without traffic lights. That was a long time ago when it was smooth running without many cars. Not any more.

There is a need for more facilities on our roads in Thimphu to control the traffic if we can’t control the number of cars from growing. At the launch of the bus information system, the traffic was a mess. Office goers wondered what was happening as the traffic was moving at a snail’s pace.

Even without a ceremony on the expressway, the traffic is bad. What we need is a long-term plan. If it is not available, we need common sense in the short-term. Facilities to divert the traffic and pedestrians ​is not rocket science.

All we need, for instance, is an automatic electronic walk sign on the busy zebra crossings. This will ensure the safety of pedestrians and the smooth flow of traffic. Today, the traffic personnel​ interrupt a long queue of cars just to let one pedestrian cross.

Priority and professional planning is the need of the hour on our roads. It is not too late.

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/on-our-roads/feed/0Give NFE instructors what they deservehttp://www.kuenselonline.com/give-nfe-instructors-what-they-deserve/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/give-nfe-instructors-what-they-deserve/#respondTue, 12 Dec 2017 10:00:51 +0000http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=167627Bhutan today is going through a catharsis of sorts. The whole of our education system is undergoing a significant revolution. Perhaps time has now arrived for us to think about education in the broader sense of the term. That means including not just campuses and classrooms, teachers and textbooks, and curriculum. There is today a need to look at relevance. Are we teaching our children the right skills and preparing them to face the challenges out of classrooms? More importantly, are we including each and every Bhutanese in the education system?

Non-formal education (NFE) has had a big success in Bhutan. According to some reports, the programme empowered close to 200,000 citizens in the country with basic and numeracy courses. That is almost half the population of this country. About 80 percent of total NFE learners have acquired life skills education. Many of them have undergone vocational skills training and are doing well. Because the real idea behind the programme is to create a system of lifelong learning opportunities for all to build a skilled and knowledge-based society, Bhutan’s NFE programme and efforts were also have been recognised with UNESCO Literacy Awards. While we have done almost enough with learning centres, we have done not quite all right with NFE instructors.

Reports claim that about 90 percent of the NFE instructors have been trained on teaching methodology, adult dealings, and life skills education programmes. But that is all we have given to recognise their priceless contribution to the nation. NFE instructors are today among the lowest-paid in the country. They fall nowhere in the country’s employment category. This has made recruitment of NFE instructors expensive. When question was raised about it in the Parliament recently, education minister said that if the concerns were genuine, the solution was to make the instructors part of civil service. We are told that education ministry has proposed to the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) to include NFE and early childhood care and development instructors part of the civil servants and to place them at grade S5A. This is a good development. Enhancing adult literacy rate to near 100 percent by 2020, providing learning opportunity to illiterate, neo-literate and dropouts, providing lifelong learning opportunity through continuing education programme will remain a challenge otherwise.

Strategic Plan for NFE Programme (2016 – 2018) says that finding adequate number of academic personnel with higher qualifications is a challenge facing the programme. This could be true because NFE instructors need more than just Nu 8,300 monthly salary. They need to know their employment status and where they belong. It is upon RCSC and education ministry to follow up and decide whether NFE instructors could be counted among the civil servants. Because we are talking about education, it matters all the more.

A nation that thinks about education of its citizens and makes sure that it goes beyond school and college systems to involve all who missed the bus or dropped out along the way is a forward-looking nation.

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/give-nfe-instructors-what-they-deserve/feed/0The myth of high value–low impact policyhttp://www.kuenselonline.com/the-myth-of-high-value-low-impact-policy/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/the-myth-of-high-value-low-impact-policy/#respondMon, 11 Dec 2017 09:00:40 +0000http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=167596The tourism industry, which the government identified as one of the jewels to strengthen the economy has come under much scrutiny.

While it may not always be for the right reasons, the discourse is good given the impact the industry has on the economy. It contributes more than nine percent to GDP, earns the highest hard currency reserves and provides the highest employment opportunity.

Yet, the industry, which operates on the tourism policy of high value, low impact appears to be undermining the only policy it is expected to value. The issue of under-cutting, selling Bhutan for less than what the minimum daily tariff prescribes is claimed to be rampant and unhealthy for the industry but one that many tour operators indulge in and tolerate to stay in the business.

For the association of tour operators and the tourism council of Bhutan, this practice is a non-issue. The tour operators indulge in it while the council appears to be content with the royalty tour operators are mandated to pay. This means, the increase in tourist arrivals is more a consequence of undercutting than of the initiatives taken. With the tariff revised, our policymakers have given the operators more room to fiddle with the tariff.

With the government and concerned authorities obsessed in increasing the number of tourist arrivals and agencies such as ABTO and TCB, complacent on it, this practice is in a way legitimised. It is an open secret that this compromises the quality of service provided to tourists but with weak monitoring and accountability institutionalised, there appears to be little done to assess the impact this would have on the tourism sector.

The National Council has pointed out the ramifications of this practice on the country’s tourism policy. It will lead to Bhutan being a cheap destination and has warned that rampant undercutting would cause leakages of profit and foreign exchange and gradual loss of control of tourism development in the country. The policy of imposing high tariff has succeeded in making Bhutan an exclusive destination. With tour operators exploiting this policy and authorities reluctant to monitor, the country is losing the worth of being a high value destination.

However, there are those who argue that reducing the tariff is akin to offering discounts, which happens in all businesses. To complain and problematise it is futile because it has no impact on the revenue to the state. Who then has the responsibility to maintain the policy of high value, low impact, if tourism is only a business for tour operators and an avenue to earn royalty for the tourism council?

The recently revised Tourism Rules and Regulations, 2017 specifies when a tourist is eligible for discounts. And Section 3.9.1 of the rules state that, it shall be an offence if any person, engaging in tourism activities charges lesser than the Minimum Daily Package rate as prescribed.

But ABTO is more in defence of this offence and the tourism council is anything but offended.

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/the-myth-of-high-value-low-impact-policy/feed/0Strengthen the labour ministryhttp://www.kuenselonline.com/strengthen-the-labour-ministry/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/strengthen-the-labour-ministry/#respondSat, 09 Dec 2017 05:00:13 +0000http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=167560In what could be a blow to the labour ministry, the joint sitting of the Parliament has now tasked the National Statistics Bureau to conduct the labour force surveys.

Against the burden of unemployment the country is buckling under, this decision of the parliament is progressive. The statistics bureau has the expertise and mandate to provide accurate, timely and reliable data for informed policy making. The parliament has given the institution a grave responsibility to provide accurate labour market information to the people and policy makers for them to take informed decisions.

Unemployment, especially among youth is the most serious issue confronting modern Bhutan today. Yet, efforts made to address the problems have often fallen short. The performance audit report has pointed out several lapses in addressing unemployment. It found that labour market need assessment was not carried out for employment facilitation initiatives to address gaps in the available and required skills in the labour market nor was an impact assessment carried out to evaluate the impacts of employment generation programmes.

The ministry has the mandate to facilitate human resource development for the country’s economic development. But its incompetence in generating reliable surveys to provide accurate information for policy making indicates an institutional weakness. It is problematic when the ministry isn’t confident about its own reports and when the basis to decision-making is faulty, initiatives taken to address problems rarely work. The ministry is supposed to be at the core of policies, given the impacts its strategies have on the lives of the people, the youth, the future that the country banks on. But it has grown to become the weakest sector.

After the labour ministry generated more than a dozen labour force survey reports, the parliament’s public accounts committee now cites conflict of interest to handover this task to the statistics bureau. By this argument, all ministries that produce reports must also have conflict of interests. If the intent is to strengthen the capacity of an institution to ensure that it performs, parliamentarians must take on the responsibility to point out the lapses and deficiencies. When the government itself has questioned the creditability of labour ministry’s reports and the ministry has cited a technical glitch, a reason such as conflict of interest makes a mockery of the unemployment issue.

However, we must understand that the systemic deficits in the ministry in terms of coordination, communication and reporting mechanism does not mean that professionals there are not doing their work. An organisation’s performance depends on its leadership. The ministry must initiate reforms and implement the recommendations made by the audit authority for it to regain public trust and confidence in tapping the skills and knowledge of the workforce, the prime drivers of a society’s socio-economic development.

The joint session of the parliament’s decision on December 6 however comes after the labour ministry notified that it would be conducting the National Labour Force Survey 2017 from December 4 to January 7, 2018. The ministry and the statistics bureau must work together to ensure that this survey’s creditability is not questioned. Even if the bureau conducts the survey, the labour ministry will be implementing the policies. We cannot afford to falter anymore.

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/strengthen-the-labour-ministry/feed/0A lesson from Kangparahttp://www.kuenselonline.com/a-lesson-from-kangpara/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-lesson-from-kangpara/#respondFri, 08 Dec 2017 10:00:53 +0000http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=167529Roads in Bhutan are a harbinger of development. It is the country’s lifeline and impacts of being connected with a road are visible in communities.

Farm roads make up about 41 percent of the country’s road network today. Although its construction has enhanced rural communities socio-economically, the poor quality of farm roads remain prone to seasonal hazards and cut off homes for weeks.

While residents in other parts of the country lament about the state of roads in their communities, groups of farmers in Kangpara, Trashigang are setting an example on how communities could help keep their roads pliable. Farmers have formed three groups to contribute labour for routine maintenance, not because the guidelines require it but because as the ultimate beneficiaries, it is their responsibility to maintain the road. Having lived through the challenges of not having a road, farmers like those in Kangpara know how to value such an infrastructure.

Which is why they have taken upon themselves to construct a drain along the road, sending a message to road authorities and planners that drainage is not apart but a critical part of a road. Cutting a space through rocks and fields and trees is not enough to call it a road. A road has to be pliable for the communities to benefit. When it doesn’t, we have only been successful in scarring the environment.

Even as works are underway to build more roads, the condition of roads in the country are in dire need of maintenance. But our tolerance to poor construction practices has cost us millions as we build and rebuild and widen and black top roads. We spend most of our budget on building roads. We may be spending more on maintenance.

Records with department of roads show that only five percent or 104.39kms of the country’s 12,204kms are perfectly smooth while 11 percent or 201.53kms of road have many large potholes and cracks. It is estimated that the replacement costs of road in the country will be more than Nu 100 billion. Despite the roads being the country’s most expensive and valuable infrastructure, we don’t see much being done to maintain this investment. This even though authorities are aware that bad road conditions incur costs and cost lives. There is a need to assess what percent of motor vehicle accidents that are occurring more frequently, is due to poor road conditions.

Our policy makers and communities in other parts of the country need to learn from the people of Kangpara. They are taking ownership of their farm road to ensure that their lifeline remains pliable for all times. They tell us that we don’t have to go abroad and bring in consultants to provide us solutions to problems that are of our own making. They show us that answers to our problems can always be found at home. The question is, are we willing?

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-lesson-from-kangpara/feed/0Drinking water criseshttp://www.kuenselonline.com/drinking-water-crises/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/drinking-water-crises/#respondThu, 07 Dec 2017 10:00:25 +0000http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=167495Thimphu thromde’s inefficient management of drinking water supply system has put the health of the city’s residents at risk. The Royal Audit Authority’s scathing report on the state of drinking water supply system in the capital city reveals that our municipality is incapable of providing even basic services like water to its residents.

The issue of water shortage has long plagued the city’s residents. The audit report, which was a long time coming, now tells us why. For when the municipality does work, its services are distributed unequally. For instance, 4.58 percent of households receive water for less than an hour a day while 26.7 percent receive 24 hours water supply. Among the eight zones in the city, homes in zone I, in upper and lower Motithang receive the highest amount of drinking water at 94.09 percent of the quantity required.

But areas in zone II, which include YHS, Lungtenzampa, Kawangjansa, Zhilukha, Hejo, Dzong, High Court area, and Langjophakha receive the least amount of drinking water at 27.65 percent. Zone I has a population of 17,037 while zone II has 10,387 people. Had the Thromde abided by the Water Act and its rules, every resident in the city would have access to safe, affordable and sufficient water for basic human needs. But it has not and so we have the hospital area in Changzamtog, home to a population of 30,685, the highest among the zones, receiving only 43.60 percent of the drinking water quantity required.

It is hoped that the prominence of residents living in certain areas, be it through their official positions or financial, do not determine the level of access to drinking water. That the residents of the Thimphu municipality receive 60.93 percent of drinking water against the required quantity shows that inefficiency is institutionalised in the thromde.

Another worrying finding in the audit report is the quality of drinking water supplied to schools and institutes. Save for Jigme Namgyel Middle Secondary School, water quality in schools was never tested. But tests done by the Royal Center for Disease Control found that water in some schools was grossly contaminated.

The shortage of water supply from the thromde has forced residents and institutions to source water from private and community sources, which may not be treated. We can’t blame people for resorting to such water sources, not when the authority responsible for the task is not doing its job. But for long we have been tolerating such practices and risking the health of the residents.

The audit report has identified the lapses in the water supply system. While it has pointed out flaws with the thromde, the sorry state of drinking water supply system in the capital highlights the weakness of central agencies and policymaking. The works and human settlement ministry and the national environment commission must be held equally responsible. Accountability should be fixed.

Poor water supply system has left the city parched and deprived its residents of basic needs. This is the narrative of Thimphu. This is the paradox of a water rich country.

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/drinking-water-crises/feed/0An opportunity and a challengehttp://www.kuenselonline.com/an-opportunity-and-a-challenge/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/an-opportunity-and-a-challenge/#respondWed, 06 Dec 2017 10:00:30 +0000http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=167439The criticisms from the Opposition and the National Council did not stop the National Assembly from passing the tourism levy exemption bill. With this, tourists travelling to the six eastern dzongkhags will not have to pay the daily royalty of USD 65 a tourist until 2020.

The intent to increase the number of tourists to east is clear. What remains unclear is how this policy would be implemented because as a development paradigm, the policy of high value – low impact tourism has to be maintained. Waiving royalty is not enough to lure tourists to visit eastern Bhutan. As a sector sensitive to quality delivery of services and infrastructures, among others, being unable to provide quality service and experience would do more harm than good.

The endorsement of the bill now challenges the tourism industry to promote eastern Bhutan. Since the proposal to tap the potential of tourism in the east through a royalty waiver came from the association of tour operators, it is hoped that some groundwork has been done. Most of the concerns raised stressed on infrastructure but it is first necessary to engage and consult the people. The opportunity to participate in the process of tourism development must involve local leaders and dzongkhag administrations for no other would know their homes better.

In a way, promoting the eastern dzongkhags as a tourist destination would be akin to promoting Bhutan all over again. While the industry operates without an Act and with weak coordination, it is hoped that this time, the industry will work together. It offers an opportunity to the tourism council to take the lead and not get overwhelmed by its own weaknesses.

At the parliament, Prime Minister said that the exemption had to be introduced since most dzongkhags were unable to reap the benefit of the tourism industry. While tourism projects are initiated as a social and economic intervention, it may be idealistic to assume that waiving the royalty would translate the benefits of tourism to the people there. We can ill afford to presume that tourism would address development priorities and its challenges.

But given the tourism opportunities, the initiative deserves a chance. Concerns raised by parliament members are valid and instead of rejecting them, a study must be done to ensure that implementation isn’t weak. Perhaps, the institutional weakness of the tourism council and poor coordination between concerned agencies is one of the main reasons for the lack of confidence in the recent policy from parliament members.

It is time efforts are made collectively to improve basic tourism services. T

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/an-opportunity-and-a-challenge/feed/0A shackled institution?http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-shackled-institution/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-shackled-institution/#respondTue, 05 Dec 2017 10:00:07 +0000http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=167412With the National Assembly snubbing the move to corporatise JDWNRH, the government has said that it would explore new ways to incentivise specialists.

The debate over the hospital’s corporatisation has however left members from the medical community, including the specialists distressed. Specialists claim that they are not for corporatisation and using them to justify a political move was unfair. The nurses and technicians, whose service in healthcare is as critical, felt left out.

As the debate got politicised, the government claimed that the proposal to corporatise the hospital was also to improve the hospital’s efficiency. But soon after the Assembly voted against it, the government claimed that it had already decided to not pursue corporatisation. Such fluid stand does not help in improving the performance of the national referral hospital, not when the specialists felt used and nurses and technicians, forgotten, who are all bound by the civil service rules.

The performance of any institution depends on its human resource and how they are managed. How incentivising specialists alone would boost the hospital’s efficiency is yet to be seen. JDWNRH is the national referral centre that also serves as the dzongkhag hospital for Thimphu and as a teaching hospital. Its autonomy is limited to central agencies such as the civil service commission and the health ministry.

If the government is serious about reforming the system and retaining specialists, the move has to be consultative. The achievement of this reform depends on whether the existing relationship between institutions that are involved in the hospital’s management is constructive or conflictive. For now, it appears to be the latter. The power tussle between these agencies as was seen in the corporatisation saga indicates the importance given to our specialists and to reforming the hospital. It was a spectacle of authority.

As the government explores new avenues to incentivise specialists and make the hospital more efficient, it is hoped that it will consider the proposal that doctors had first submitted to the government. For hospital governance requires balancing national health policy with operational management. One is political and subjective and the other, technical and objective. The challenge would be to integrate these two spheres and strike a balance to ensure an efficient system. There is as much a need to assess the factors driving the reform. How much of these proposed changes are a result of growing expectations from patients for better healthcare, the grievances of health workers and a political will to restructure the traditional structure has to be understood.

The hospital has proposed full autonomy to be able to do more. That the hospital does not even have the authority to hire support staff such as cleaners is telling of the power that has been given to the institution. In such a setting, we are told that expatriate doctors are paid about USD 3,000, more than four times the salary of specialists here. On call allowances and training opportunities are among the other proposals.

It is understood that even with incentives, some may still choose to leave. But efforts must be made. The national referral hospital must not be shackled, nor its conscience.

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-shackled-institution/feed/0Malady of the nation?http://www.kuenselonline.com/malady-of-the-nation/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/malady-of-the-nation/#respondMon, 04 Dec 2017 10:00:56 +0000http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=167368Bhutanese people have no reason to commit suicide the Prime Minister said at the National Assembly last week. This observation from the head of the government about one of the most serious and rising issues facing modern Bhutan is not received well.

Bhutan, the people are told, was different from other countries because it was a blessed country with Gross National Happiness as its overarching development philosophy. There is no denying this fact, of course. But, surely, happiness does not push people off the cliff or leave them hanging from the ceilings feeling too small and overpowered in the face of challenges myriad that visit them painfully every moment of lives. While surveys show that happiness level of the Bhutanese citizens is increasing by the year, scourges like substance abuse and suicide have been rearing their ugly heads ever so frequently. How do we reconcile with these vastly divergent facts?

Sadly but, the real issue is losing focus. This, honourable citizens, is the point of reference – maybe we misunderstood our elected leaders or they find us hopelessly naive or gullible. Otherwise, we would not be ridiculing and underestimating ourselves at this level this way – this hour this day.

People believe they have reasons to end their lives if they find them not worth living. Education and health, our visionary forebears saw the worth of it and had the wisdom and courage to turn them true, are being provided free. Bhutanese do not need this reminded, because they will remain forever grateful that such are the fortunes that they have always enjoyed because of the farsightedness of their self-less monarchs. But that is not the argument. It is less our concern how many people put an end to their own lives in other countries. In a “blessed country” where happiness is cultivated tirelessly, a promising life down is one too many. Such comparisons are painfully irrelevant.

Most people in this country who choose to end their lives aren’t mentally unsound. Close to 80 percent of suicide cases was found to have no relation with mental sickness or issues. This is what the government commissioned report – A Study on Suicide Case in Bhutan 2014 – says. But, of course, we are let to know that the government has trust issues with their own findings.

It has been established that close to 60 percent of completed [suicide] cases involved those who earned less than Nu 3,000 a month. This explains why farmers are the least happy group in this society. There are reasons social, economic, and others playing their part individually and dangerously. To see how they affect the common people, we need only to look out of our ivory towers.

There is something unhealthy brewing in our society that is cutting the lives of our most promising and young. We can ill afford to play with numbers and trivialise the issue.

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/malady-of-the-nation/feed/0Substance abuse: Looking beyond issuehttp://www.kuenselonline.com/substance-abuse-looking-beyond-issue/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/substance-abuse-looking-beyond-issue/#respondSat, 02 Dec 2017 08:00:24 +0000http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=167339The issue of substance abuse is fast growing to be one of the biggest banes of the modern times. Going by incident reports, the number of people peddling and abusing controlled substances seems to be increasing by the year. What is worrying is that this scourge is affecting the most promising and productive section of our society – youth.

We know that abusers and traffickers of controlled substances come from all sections of the Bhutanese society. It includes students, civil servants, private employees and pensioners. Until as recently as early November this year, police intercepted and registered 70 substance abuse and trafficking cases in Phuentsholing alone. This is how big the problem has grown to.

What is clear is that we are employing measures to address the issue sporadically but are not at all serious about our efforts. There was a lot of finger pointing going on recently when SP+ became an issue. What we now know is that Bhutan Narcotics Control Authority (BNCA) has been sitting without board members for a long time. This reflects how serious we are with the issue of substance abuse and trafficking in the country.

National Assembly and National Council are deliberating the Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, and Substance Abuse (Amendment) Bill. The time is most opportune. National Council amended 16 provisions, including the lists of banned substances. Lawmakers need to employ reason and vision while discussing the Bill. We are talking about the future of our children and that of the nation.

One of the significant features of the amendment Bill that the National Council endorsed yesterday is the change to section 59. It says “the board may amend the schedules including addition, deletion of substances in the schedule or the whole schedule and/or quantification of any of the substances deemed to be abused or trafficked, upon the recommendation of the competent technical advisory committee formed under it.” Now that the board members have been identified and suggested, meetings should happen frequently to update the list of controlled substances and to shape the course of the authority, among others. In case of a vacancy, the government should appoint a member to fill the vacancy within 30 days. So, there is no issue of quorum.

Because the issue concerns the health of this nation, we need to be a little more serious about it. Just by way of example, the nation is in need of more rehabilitation centres and counsellors. There is a need to fill the gap between treatment of clients and reintegrating them in the society as productive contributors to the nation. These are the issues we need to consider when we debate substance abuse and trafficking.